its marwan!?!
i should write three parallel stories that intersect at a few incidents,the first incident where all three are together is while guarding the gate at the death of usman (ra). then they meet again at the battle of the camel, where the three of them take up arms. and then meet again in medina where husayn (ra), and ibn zubayr (ra) are summoned by the governor of medina at the death of caliph Muawiyah to give an oath of allegiance to his son Yazid. There is one version of that meeting that places all three of them in the room. Marwan is present to advise the governor.
Many of us are already familiar with the tragic story of imam husayn (ra). We hear it every muharram. it is the story of a failed rebellion against the banu ummaya. The story of ibn zubayr (ra), on the other hand, is about a successful challenge to their power and the lesson of constantly struggling to resist evil, his death brings to a close the era of the rightly guided second generation.
But, the story of marwan is story of the rise of islamic secular civilization. husayn's is a tragic event in between that can show another side to the personalities of both marwan and ibn zubayr as secular rulers. There would be no caliph Muawiya and banu Ummaya if not for marwan. there would be no Islamic spain if not for marwan, no Muhammad bin Qasim conquering sind if not for marwan, no need for an abbasid revolution against banu ummaya power, and hence no caliph harun al-rashid to populate the stories of the arabian nights, and no caliph al Mamun to establish his house of wisdom.
after the prophet (sa) died, hazrat umar charted one course for the development of islamic civilization, he did not ask for the caliphate that he we was givin and earned the title of comander of the faithful his legacy lives on in the teachings of our ulema. marwan on the other hand charted an alternate path he plotted and planned and eventually took control of the caliphate and his legacy lived on till the end of the WW1 when the position was abolished by the turks.
